Is Self-Regulation Sufficient? Case of the German Transparency Code

Kristin Buske,Stefan Jentzsch,Clemens Bechter

doi:10.3390/admsci6010003

Kristin Buske, Stefan Jentzsch + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci6010003

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Abstract

The German pharmaceutical industry is stepping ahead with its implementation of a new transparency disclosure code for cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and health care professionals (HCPs) and health care organisations (HCOs). In Germany, this transparency code (“Transparenzkodex”) is applicable since January 2015, and data will be publicly available around mid-2016. No empirical work has been done that addresses the impact of the transparency code on cooperation between HCPs, HCOs and the pharmaceutical companies, including the possibilities of competitive analysis of the available data. In this paper, we interviewed experts from 11 pharmaceutical companies representing small, medium-sized as well as multinational corporations which represent 80% of the German pharmaceutical market. Besides interviews, the authors designed a game to evaluate possible financial investments in key opinion leaders. The market can be regarded as a zero sum game. By allowing public identification of such key HCPs and HCOs, the amount spent on them might increase and not decrease. In a way, the transparency code may foster more and not less spending; in our simulation game, the financial investment in marketing key HCPs and HCOs exceeded sustainable limits.

Highlights

In many countries, Germany included, the legislative authorities are falling behind in enforcing laws to regulate corruption
DGHO); the society is one of the leading oncology societies in Germany and one may assume that their opinion is shared by other societies, currently, no society positions itself as clearly as the DGHO
health care professionals (HCPs)/health care organisations (HCOs) would be more selective in their cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, but at the same time more careful in maintaining working relationships with several companies in order to avoid being accused of bribery for prescription of drugs from the same companies

Summary

Introduction

Germany included, the legislative authorities are falling behind in enforcing laws to regulate corruption. In today’s global economy, country-specific laws may not be sufficient, and self-regulation is vital to maintain industry standards, to develop and apply codes of professional ethics and to ensure consumer confidence. In agreement with the EFPIA disclosure code, from 1 January 2015, German pharmaceutical companies who are members of the vfa will document their payments to HCPs/HCOs in a way that enables making the data publicly available in the following year, i.e., 2016, for the first time. Compared to the USA or other European countries, Germany decided rather late to aim for more transparency in the cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and HCPs/HCOs. To lead the way, members of the vfa committed themselves to report details on four types of transactions with HCPs/HCOs:. Those companies that manufacture generic and biosimilar products in Germany have formed “Pro Generika” [21], counting 16 member companies in Germany

Experimental Section

Results and Discussion

Conclusions